"Isn't it weird?" says Kathleen Turner. "My whole career and suddenly I'm playing two Catholic women." The actress depicted a nun onstage in the play "High," including a recent run at the Curran Theatre right after filming "The Perfect Family," in which she portrays a pious candidate for Catholic Mother of the Year. "I did a lot of Catholic homework for the film. I can tell you a lot about venal and mortal sins and all that stuff," she laughs.

"The Perfect Family" follows Turner's character, Eileen Turner, as she tries to make a good impression on church officials while contending with a lesbian daughter (Emily Deschanel), an alcoholic husband (Michael McGrady) and a philandering married son (Jason Ritter).

First-time feature director Anne Rentonshot "The Perfect Family" in just 20 days. Turner welcomed the tight schedule. "You don't necessarily have much time for exploration, which could be difficult for others who aren't as self-directed as I am, but it suits me. I teach a master class in practical acting at NYU, 'Shut up and do it.' That's my basic philosophy."

The approach, informed by early training at London's Central School of Speech & Drama, has served the actress well ever since her breakthrough role as a femme fatale in 1981's "Body Heat." She followed up with hits including "Romancing the Stone," "Prizzi's Honor," "War of the Roses," "Peggy Sue Got Married" and "The Accidental Tourist."

"Each of those characters is essentially a contrast to the one before," Turner, 57, notes. "When you start out with 'Body Heat,' where you're being labeled the sexiest thing in God knows how long, you know that there's a short life span, so you mustn't let yourself just be categorized that way."

Turner endured a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis in the 1990s before launching a triumphant comeback over the past decade by appearing in smash theatrical revivals of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." Turner brings her one-woman show, "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins," to Washington in the fall.

Sir Anthony as Sir Alfred in 'Hitchcock'

Sacha Gervasi made a splash a few years ago with his heavy-metal documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil."

This spring, in one of the more dramatic career moves of the season, he directs Anthony Hopkinsin the title role of "Hitchcock," due for release in 2013.

A doc from both sides of the political aisle

Science fiction flicks usually invade movie theaters during the summer, but this year filmmaker Rian Johnson is waiting until "Men in Black III," "The Dark Knight Rises" and other high-concept adventures run their course before unveiling "Looper."

Set to open Sept. 28, the time-travel adventure casts Joseph Gordon-Levittas a hit man assigned to kill an older version of himself (Bruce Willis), who's been sent back from the future.

Johnson came up with the idea for "Looper" in 2005 while directing Gordon-Levitt in "Brick." "I asked myself, 'What would it be like to sit down across the table from an older version of yourself?' " Johnson recalls. "I approached it as a storytelling challenge because time travel doesn't make sense. There is no way it will ever make sense, even in the most rock-solid time-travel movie, like 'Back to the Future' or 'Primer.' "

After directing Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brodyand Rachel Weiszin the 2008 con artist movie "The Brothers Bloom," Johnson returned to "Looper." "It's almost like doing a magic trick," Johnson says. "It's about misdirection. You have to figure out how to make the audience think that what you're doing makes sense, even though it doesn't. To me, that's very interesting." {sbox}